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Transgressors 'will be held accountable' for any U.S. laws broken, Eric Holder says. AP PhotoClose

Attorney General Eric Holder urged news organizations on Monday to “act in a responsible manner” in dealing with the classified information released by the watchdog group WikiLeaks.

“I look at the law as it exists and ... there is a real basis to believe that crimes have been committed here,” Holder told reporters.

Holder also suggested that Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has not been relieved from the Justice Department’s investigation of his organization because of his Australian citizenship. “To the extent that we can find anybody breaking U.S. law ... they will be held responsible,” he said. “They will be held accountable.”

Holder told reporters there was an “an active, ongoing criminal investigation” into the actions of WikiLeaks, and he said he couldn’t yet announce its results.